9: The Novelization
by NinjaOfTamashii
Summary: Novel Version of Shane Acker's 9. Very true to both the Russian and English version with added dialouge, scenes, and flashbacks to better understand the story. Rated T for Violence and 'Scary Images'. Some cursing. EXTREME LITERATE. On hold.
1. 9

What was the feeling he felt? It was hard to say… A tense pressure was slowly being relieved as it rested on his shoulders, yet a force of air found its way into… what? This new place, a new feeling, a new everything.

There was a light flickering noise as his mind began to piece together. There was a feeling of weightlessness as a cold feeling touched his rough sensory external body. It wouldn't be called skin, certainly not. He was in no means a human, despite his frame. Obviously too small to even be embraced by a child, he was some odd thing between a doll and a cybernetic being.

Yet what was he? Who was he? Correction… was he even a he? It was difficult to call a created being without voice, organs, let alone a single recorded thought a singular sex.

His long and sharpened fingers were the first to move. As though his body was testing itself, making sure all the parts were accounted for, he began to be conscious of himself. That persistent clicking quickened pace, forcing him to concentrate more. Thoughts and words came to him.

Questions. He needed answers. Answers.

But the clicking was determined to keep him working. Think harder. Who was he? Where was he? What was he? _Why_ was he? These were the thoughts of the infant born into the word as a full-grown... _whatever_ he was. He was like a curious child, questioning everything he now felt.

And he hadn't even opened his eyes yet.

The clicking was hardly stopping now, but seemed to have softened inside his mind. It still echoed though, and was quite annoying. Now curious to the source of it, he attempted to see through the darkness. The weight over his eyes was lifted quite sharply and he was suddenly faced with the room he was born into. He attempted to focus though the blurry screens, which flickered multiple times. That insensitive ticking was beginning to quiet and slow down.

The room around him was darkened and musty, and the only light coming from a closed opening that fussed and pulled to be released. He now became conscious of it, and carefully lifted up his heavy head. The clicking was slowing and dissolving more into the scene. He became aware it wasn't in his head, but the opening of light that was shuddered up and pulling at itself.

He gazed at the scene around him. A light wind fluttered past, making odd sounds echo around the room. His sight flickered again as his head turned to look around, until his sight caught something that instantly intrigued him. A small shiny shape sat a bit away from his still limp body, just barely out of his reach. His hand flinched against the ground, his curiosity intrigued. What was it? Why was it here? Could he reach it? Why was it so shiny? How smooth was it? _Was_ it smooth? Why? Why? **Why**?

Slowly, he extended his hand so that he could take it and see it closer. However, his fingers, even at their length, could not skim the metal. A certain feeling hit his brain, causing it to tick. His lips turned downward without meaning to, and his hand hit the ground with a thud. What a pain, he thought to himself. I want it. I want to know what it is. But how can I see it when I can't reach it? I need to get closer...

After a moment he had a thought and gripped the rough ground, dragging himself foreword. He then swung his opposite hand and caught the still object.

Dragging the object with him, his stitch-opened mouth slowly turned upward. He pushed himself up and landed on the bend in his legs in a kneeling position. He carefully looked the object over, his slight smile widening.

The object was smooth and cold on his sharpened metal claws, and the lines formed three individual sections. There were odd carvings on practically every corner, though three prominent ones were set in the center of each of the divided sections. His fingers traced the symbols and the edges between them. What were they? What did they mean? Why was this object here, so out of place like he? Was it for him? Was he not to even touch it? Why wouldn't he be able to? What---

**Cr-CRACK!**

Being so entranced by the object, he jumped considerably when the covered opening let out a loud shudder. He looked around, his sight shuttering as he looked about the darkened room. It was at this point of new-found height that he could see over the side of the ground he knelt on.

There, laying sprawled about the ground was some odd shape covered by loose papers with scrawled writing coating it. He scooted on his knees to see off the side, trying to get a better look, but the mass was hard too see with his newborn vision. And the darkness certainly didn't help.

The shuddered opening fussed again, and he looked at it. Why was it so noisy? Was there something on the other side? Did it want in? Or was this out? These questions pulsed in his mind until he gave up and decided to investigate.

He looked before him. There were three large blocks before him, all of which were stacked clumsily atop one another. He carefully moved his legs from under him, balancing himself with his hands as he lifted his body up onto his infant legs. He stumbled, almost losing his footing, but caught himself on the stack of... books! That was the word that came to his mind. He smiled, somehow knowing what the objects were in some hidden part of his mind.

He pulled himself forward using the books (the thought that he had remembered that word somehow... he felt victorious!) and crawled uneasily atop one. His legs still were becoming accustomed to the weight, but remained steady as he crept ahead, the object clutched in his clawed hand. He scooted himself to the book that leaned on his own and pulled himself up onto it, luckily not slipping on the surface. He felt more victorious, how well his first memories were going! He ran swiftly down the books in his glee, luckily not falling right onto his face.

The remaining obstacle was that of the frame of the… wait. He knew this one. Just like the books, the word was there. A word just perfect for it… door? No, too big. Think hard… Glass had _something_ to do with it but… Window! That was it!

He smile went wider as he reached to the top of the window frame, and placed the object on it. He clawed at the surface and lifted himself up, having a bit of difficulty but seemed boastfully proud of himself as he cleared the edge.

He then stood up, his hand contacting the shiny object and taking it with him. The window quaked again and he put his hands on it carefully. He could feel a cold wind hit his sensitive exterior, obviously the result of the fussing window. He then pushed, putting most of his weight on the wood. It was hard, rough, and difficult to push, but two great shoulder throws did it, and the window swung open.

As he straightened up to gaze at the outer world, his mind clicked thoughtfully. How empty and desolated it was.

This world was beautiful; it was the world he was born to. The sky was a sweet dark color, and the masses of wood around his current perch were covered in holes, like tattered blankets flapping in the wind. It was amazing, a world that perfectly matched himself and his body. The room he was born into was darkened, and those shades comforted him. The outer realm was a bit the same, though more lit then before. It held a certain home-like feeling. Yet strange shades, brighter and vibrant shades, met his mind in mixed patterns. How funny to think of them, those colors in his mind must have been the colors of ugly forms.

He instantly fell in love with his world.

It was his. All his.

So, this was life.

He rather liked it.

However, as he gazed out into this world, he suddenly heard a sharp squeal. He looked around in confusion until his eyes gazed downward. There a small figure pulled a large object, far below him. He squinted his eyes to get a good look, but it was simply too far away.

He opened his mouth to give a shout to them, but nothing came out but a low squeak. He couldn't say a word. His hand met his throat, a questioning look on his face. That might be a problem.

He glanced to the object in his hand. It would be difficult to carry on his own… but at this point he noticed his own cloth body had and opening directly down the half of it. He examined it, opening one flap to look around inside. There were cords and wires and everything else inside of him, almost like his outer stitching that was used to keep him together. He was dark, a bit empty too.

Carefully, he placed the shiny object inside and pulled up on the piece of metal holding him together. The metal slid up easily along the prongs it sat on, and was locked tight as the metal reached his neck.

He smiled, quite proud of himself.

He turned around, obviously having no intent of jumping all the way down to meet the new being from so high up, and leapt quite swiftly off of the window sill and then off of the… table! He was getting good at this.

He looked to the mass that was still and rather limp looking and walked past it without a second thought. He wasn't sure what it was, but somehow it gave him a queasy feeling, as though it was simply so out of place it frightened him. But the mass was the least of his worries, he wanted to know about the moving thing outside. What was it? Was it friendly? Would it like him? Could it speak? Could it help him to?

These were the questions in his mind as he ran out of his birth room, the shiny object clunking against his insides and his eyes shuttering, a touch of curiosity seeming permanently imbedded in them.

****

He reached to outer side of the building, having a bit of difficulty as he swiftly hopped down one broken chunk of wood after another. He had thought he was alone, and the first thing he saw in this world… well, he simply couldn't just let them get away.

But as he reached the last chunk of wood and hit hard cold dirt, the light squealing had gone, and replaced with nothing. He looked around, his mouth going downward again as he wondered what happened to the other moving thing. He cautiously took a few steps forward into his new world, his eyes darting about. Now that he was out of the certain comfort of his birth room, he felt exposed and vulnerable to whatever else may be lurking… even the thought of the moving thing be some horrendous beast that sought to devour him crossed his mind, but he continued to move onward.

Both sides of him were empty. The barren city hugged itself in fear of… something. Probably the beast that hunted it. Perhaps that was why he was no longer cold like he was in his room. The beast was breathing down the city's neck, threatening to lash out.

Finally, a form caught his eyes. Curiously creeping around a large object that somehow seemed out of place in this organized world, he looked in side the large opening. There, two things the shape of him were huddled together, their skin tight and poisoned. They were much larger, like tall slumbering giants. The smaller one sat around the taller's lap and latched it by the neck tightly, as if for their now gone lives. He stumbled back, a pang of fear hitting him. What were these things? The beasts? And was it just him… or did they oddly bear the resemblance of the form sprawled on the ground in his room?

But before he could question farther, a low squeal met his sensitive hearing again. He froze, his gaze darting around before he quickly took step, away from the dead things and into the masses of rubble. He found himself quite quick on his feet, the numb feeling now replaced by strength and a certain eager energy to break down and run.

Yet as the squeal stopped again, he froze. He was in a pathway now, with no sign of the moving form. He glanced back, wondering where it had gone to. Slowly he stepped forward to contiue, but a brilliant flash of light made his body move swiftly without meaning to, and he hid behind a tall chunk of an item.

He froze, eyes widened. What in the world was that light? He had acted so quickly without meaning to, but something echoed in his head. Scattered words with meanings he thought he knew, but as he tried to grasp they simply floated away. The light could be seen as it crept closer, it's source getting so close, he could hear it's quick footsteps. His foot lightly touched something next to it and his view snapped down. A large bulky object sat there, seeming just too perfectly left there. He bent down, grabbed it by both hands, stood up, and prepared for the attack.

He watched the light cautiously, which was now projected on the wood infront of his hiding place. Between the holes of debris he saw shapes, some bloodthirsty masses os demons that hissed lightly at the sight of him and large figures who looked right over to him. He's here! They hissed joyfully. They let their slimy fingers crawl down his skin, and bony fingers clutched his own. He was out in the open, and now was nothing but a toy to them. They played with their toy, singing high pitched squeals in their joy of their new scrap of meat.

His breath quickened as it stepped so close he could hear it's breathing, He slammed his eyes to a shut position and swung around the corner, cleaving the beast across the head.

The light went out, and it was dark.

He swung back around the corner, some odd mix between victory and fear pulsing in his mind. However, a low groaning caught back his attention. Curious. He peered at the beast around his hiding spot's corner.

And it looked at him.

He swung quickly back around, clutching his weapon.

"Wait!"

He froze. The thing… had spoke. It said a word. It had a VOICE!

"…I'm a friend."

He looked back around the corner in his surprise, the weapon dropping from his now loose fingers. The thing that lay weakly before him now was small, his size and shape, though he looked vastly more worst for the wear. It groaned as it tried to stand on it's own, and he rushed to it, helping it to it's feet.

It looked oddly more crudely made then he, and was fastened together with leather sleeveless cover, which was tied by loose rope. It wore an odd looking thing on it head with a snuffed out string and a large chunk of glass over it's face. As it straightened up it looked to him, his eyes not as wide as his grin. He laughed lowly, moving the glass closer to get a better look.

"I'd always hoped…" He said airily, still laughing as he walked carefully around him, looking at his font, side, back, and side again. "So… you're our 9 at last!"

He gave the new one a questioning look, but he simply continued his inspection. He picked over everything, beeming as he looked to the thread hold his arm up and laughing as he gently touched his hand. His hands were gentle and slow as he carefully moved, his voice comforting and rough.

"So much thought...The details… Hand stitched… Carved wood… Molded copper! My goodness, you're the best one yet…" He said, looking back up to him with an eager smile. "I'm 2. Excuse me for being so ecstatic… We almost thought you didn't survive…"

He gave 2 a questioning look, and mouth several words as he ushered to his throat. 2 looked a bit dumbstruck.

"You… can't speak?" He asked, and was responded with a shaking of the head. The being put his hand to his chin thoughtfully, and looked to the large metal piece. He glanced to him. "May I?"

He nodded and pulled the piece down halfway, and 2 gingerly reached inside. His hands carefully felt around, shockingly warm to the touch. He thought to himself, muttered a bit, and then moved away. He walked several inches, and beckoned to the other.

"Come with me, I may have just the thing."

He quickly picked up his feet to follow the other being, some part of him slowly becoming drawn to the rough voiced copy of himself. He had that quality to him, to be so easily trusted and comforting, and the newborn was drawn to it. He walked quickly behind the older one, who took a curved stick from a strap on his back and began to walk with it assisting him. It was intriguing, the way he had changed from a limp to a fluid walking motion.

He glanced to the newborn, who watched the stick with interest.

"Well… I guess I'm just not as young as my mind thinks it is, eh?" He said with a grin. "When you take as many risks as I do when being 2nd born… well, you lose a few things."

He smiled, tapping his plating skull with his knuckles, "One can assume I've just lost my mind, but my body keeps on going right without it."

The newborn smiled at this jest, and followed quicker to 2's step as they walked toward a large cart covered in odd shaped items, one of which was a large creature with soulless eyes and a cold grin, it's body laying belly-up on the cart. The newborn looked nervously at it, wondering what in the world it was. 2 seemed to notice his curiosity, and took his arm in his tender grasp.

"Don't worry, just some things I've collected around the area. I'm a rabid inventor, you see, and these are just new treasures to help me out. Feel free to look at my things, you seem a bit curious, eh 9?"

He smiled, thinking to himself. 9? He rather liked the appointed name. Images of a curved line and circle reacted in his mind. Was that his name, that symbol? Where did it come from, so suddenly?

2 stepped briskly ahead of nine, letting go of his comforting grip on 9's arm and walked to his treasures. The newborn looked in surprise at 2's back... There an oddly curved shape that lay as a line at the end was stained into the cloth on his back. 9 cocked his head, but walked back behind the limping being.

2 shifted around his treasures and 9, looking around, copied his action. As two picked up a stick and slashed it across his foot, the bulb at the end reacted and erupted in a sharp yellow and red light that danced in the air. 9 looked at it, questioning what it was, but an obivious 2 lit the string that was over his head on the white mass and there the light stayed, flickering silently and 2 swung the stick and the light still on it vanished into light mist.

9 then looked to the treasures, a long, shiny, and thick object catching his eyes from where he stood. He bent over the cart, taking the object and tapped it with one metal (copper, 2 had said?) finger. It made an odd metallic sound, and hummed in his hand. He smiled, and wondered what would happen if he hit it just a bit harder... A louder sound? Or perhaps quieter? He pulled back, preparing to slam the object against the cart.

"STOP!"

9 froze, clutching the object tightly in surprise. He turned to 2, who held out his hand and had widened eyes. A second object was tight in his hand as he moved forward, taking the shiny rod and putting it back on the cart.

"There are things in this world... that should be left where they lie. Those were the things the humans loaded their guns with, and killed each other with them. If you would have carried through with that... Well, you'd be missing more then your mind."

He smiled sadly, but moved up to 9's metal-clad middle. He reached inside with the object, setting it onto several cords and then snapping it into a small stand. 9 jumped as he felt a shock through him.

"Try that..." 2 said slowly. 9 looked down at him, letting out a high pitched crack. The being flinched, but turned the object and adjusted the cords. "Again..."

Another cracking sound, this one lower, "Wait, closer..."

A hiccup of a deepened crack, "Little more..."

A hiss and static tone, "And..."

"F..ff.... f... Fr..iend?"

2 smiled sweetly, looking up to the newborn, who beamed happily, "Friend. Good."

But as he smiled at the younger being his eyes traveled downward, and his smile faded. He took a step forward, carefully pulling down the piece of metal to look deeper into the interior body.

"What's this…?" He asked. 9 looked down in surprise, but reached inside himself and took out the shiny half-orb he had found in his birth room. He handed it to 2, who let out an exclaim of joy.

"You found it!" He said, and chuckled. He looked between it and the being before him, "He's always drawing this… This is it!"

9 gave him an inquisitive look, but a low rumble took away his attention and he looked around in a nervous interest. Slowly, his gaze returned to 2.

"Are… Are we alone?"

2 laughed gently, "No, no…"

But a low roar snapped him out of his daze of looking at the object. He looked around in surprise, slowly gazing at the area around them with caution in his widened eyes. 9, now worried, looked around too as 2 stepped in front of him, the shiny object still clutched in his hand.

"Shhh…." 2 said softly, "Go, go on…"

He gave 9 a gentle nudge, though didn't take his eyes off his surroundings. The newborn did as he was told, silently questioning what the sound was as 2 slowly spun a mechanism on the object on his head. The piece of metal lowered and snuffed out the flame, melting the area into pure darkness. 2 cautiously reached back to his cart, sill not moving his eyes from the outer edges of the area. He fumbled a bit, placing 9's treasure on the cart and then moved his hand around, groping for something. He found a large stick with a pointed piece of rock tied to it and pulled it off, holding it defensively to his body. As he glanced around again at another roar, this one louder, he noticed 9, who stood a bit away and was questioningly looking around as he stood next to a large empty mass.

2 made a hiss to the younger being, "Get in the can! Go on!"

"But…"

"I can defend myself! You're still a newborn, you're not ready yet! You are still weak!" 2 snapped, his comforting voice suddenly sharp with his worry and fear. "Now go!"

9 stalled, but slipped inside of a bent out entrance of the large hiding spot and peeked around the side, his eyes flickering.

2 stood defensivly, obviously not willing so easily give up his treasures as he took his stance before them. However, his breathing was rapid and his eyes darted at the slightest sound. That deep snarling was all around him, seeming to have no source but the opposite sides that his eyes went to. The being held his weapon awkwardly, his body showing he was not used to fighting, if he ever fought at all.

He heard the deep gargling rumble again, this time directly in front of him. 2 clenched his weapon and focused only ahead, and slowly backed up. If it was in front of him, it would give him extreme advantage. He would be able to take off as soon as the beast attacked, and perhaps find shelter until it gave up and left both he and 9 alone. He knew this place well enough, and could pinpoint a hiding place anywhere…

But a low and shallow creaking halted him, and his eyes went wide. Had it… somehow gotten behind him so fast? He was sure it was in the front.

He turned to look over his shoulder, his legs a bit shaky as he turned, and was blind sighted by a strike across his body and a loud roar.

He hit the ground several feet from where he had been cleaved across the body by some sharp trio of blunt objects. 9 gasped loudly as he landed before his hiding place, small tears now on 2's body.

2 let out a groan, looking ahead of him to his weapon, which had landed a few inches from his hand. He stretched out to grab it quickly, but a million pounds of weight and metal were forced down onto his body, making him gasp loudly and several of his interior parts snapped. His view looked back in surprise as a great beast with a vicious bleached skull, one spotlight-lit eye, and the other dark red let out a gigantic roar of fury. It arched it's metal clad back as it stood on four legs, like some horrific animal.

2 yelled in fear, quickly lashing out to grab his weapon as the beast wrapped it's flesh drained metallic claws around his body, pulling him up with a cloud of dust. He reacted, slashing the beast across it's face with his sharpened weapon. He shrieked and threw him roughly to the side of him as punishment, causing him to crash into his cart of treasures. He let out a loud groan of pain and flopped onto the ground as several of his treasures fell on the dirt with him, including 9's shiny half-orb. He lay still, his body folded a bit from his position of laying belly down.

Though the beast swooped in on it's pray with a hungry intent, it stalled as it's seneitvie red eyes spotted the orb. It looked at it, taking it daintily with two long sharp fingers to hold it up and look at it.

By now, 9 leaned practically out of his hiding place to watch this horror unfold, and spotted the glare in the beast's eyes as it turned, and quickly hid deeper, fearing the beast had seen him.

It hadn't seen him, but it certainly heard his metal feet echo in the thin can.

Growling deep in it's nonexistent throat, the beast clambored over the piles junk to investigate, it's body hunching over as it looked over the can with it's lit eye. After a moment though, the light disappeared and 9 heard the beast as it creaked away. He carefully turned around the corner to confirm, but the beast remained in sight and grabbed the entrance to the can, ripping it open several inches as the other hand reached inside. 9 yelled in fear and backed up, his back pressed against the other side of the can.

He clenched his eyes, pressing his back as far into the can as possible as the sharpened knives of the beast's fingers only just stroked his neck.

The beast knew something was there, it could practically hear it's dusty breaths and smell it's aroma. It was like the other noisy things, but not like the ones that chased him with sticks that hurt, or the ones that hid behind the others whenever he was in sight, no… This one was different, it was fresh. It had a sweet musty smell still stuck to it, and that other smell that they all had, that baited it to them…. It was ripe and strong on this one.

However, a sudden clunk on the skull took his attention back and made him look back to the being he thought he had killed.

"H-Here, kitty kitty…." 2 said, and tried to pick up a stone nearby, despite the fact his legs now rejected to move. He moved the stone closer. "Why don't you f-finish what you started… with… me…"

His voice trailed off as the beast approached him, seeming to accept his challenge as it snarled deeply and focused it's bright light only on him. 2 lifted up the rock with one hand, though his body shook desperately as he looked at the beast through his now broken glass. He couldn't move, only crane his neck upward and stare with large eyes as his body trembled uselessly and his mouth fell agape.

The beast swooped down, clutching 2 in his teeth and ripping his limp body forcefully off the ground. 2 yelled out in pain again, this one softer but obviously from his throat now, as several more of his insides were ripped or shifted.

The beast took the being with him and stumbled quickly back to the hiding spot, though one look inside showed it that whatever was inside was gone- now only leaving a torn off chunk of fabric and a few strings. The beast roared, striking the can in its anger. The metal mass flew, smashing into some rock with a loud cringe.

The beast then backed away and looked downward. The shiny object lay there but was picked up by the creature and placed onto a set of prongs on it's chest, where it sat precariously.

9 carefully lifted himself over another chunk of trash to see 2 as he was spirited away, the older being gasping quietly as it reached after him, his miniscule fingers stretching against his own stitches as he reached out to the newborn; a deep-rooted terror ran through him with the knowledge that he could not reach him, but the hope that somehow he'd be spared. 9 scrambled quickly up the side to reach for him as the beast ran, but his voice turned into a hiss of pain as his arm hung nearly at its end stitches. He looked off toward the way which the beast took 2, his chest filling with some odd sensation. Bent over a bit, he looked off at the musty horizon, where three towers stood, as prominent as 2's look of desperation, the look now set in 9's mind as his first memory.

This same expression continued to be imbedded into 9's mind as he limped through the ruins, his mind leading him to nowhere, though he had the intention to fully go after the beast. Nevertheless, 2 had said there were others… If he could find them… Would they help him? Help 2? But then why was 2 alone? Had he done something?

But his low energy from the awakening and the attack exhausted the newborn, and he merely stumbled long as daylight came until his legs gave out, causing him collapse in the middle of nowhere. His mind shut down, not even comprehending the fact someone had seen him from far off and now wore a worried expression behind his single eye.


	2. 8

As he slept, the newborn saw the scene repeat itself a million times. 2 would be snatched up and carried away, calling back helplessly to 9. Sometimes, the images would change and the event would be complete poles apart. 2 would be calling out curses of anger to the newborn, followed by the beast standing over the ripped out remains of the older being, and then 9 would be the one being taken away, screaming and pulling at the jaws that sank deep into him. 9 muttered and rolled about in his sleep, his eyes fluttering open in the midst of his recorded thoughts .

He breathed hard, blinking back the blurry images as his energy found him again. Over him were quite dangerous objects that danced quietly to themselves, and his body rested on some sort of a flat surface.

His eyes bliked and his mind wondered how he had gotten here just as a dark figure rushed over him, holding a weapon to his neck.

9 let out a yell and grabbed the weapon, pulling it out of his attackers grasp and throwing it so it hit the ground and stuck there, still shaking from the suspence. The newborn tumbled over himself as he attempted to escape, but his footing was shaky and he tripped. He fell onto a heap in the ground, his body instantly curling up. His attacker stood over him, preparing to strike down on his victim. His imagined images were coming true, he was taken by a beast just like 2…!

"H-hey!" a new voice said, and gentle hands grasped his shoulder nd touched his back. "It's alright… I'm not going to hurt you."

9 looked up, his mind snapping back. It was 2! He was alive and had gotten away!

But one look at the new face showed him instantly it was not the older being, but someone who was taller and had a soft smile, though one great plate covered one eye. 9 breathed hard as he looked him over, the new being whom obviously looked quite more new then his first acquaintance but wore the same gentle smile, the smile that was set up only to calm the frightened newborn.

"You're safe now." The being said in a comforting tone, and helped 9 sit back on his risen resting place. 9, still confused, rubbed his sore head with one hand.

"W…Where am I?" He muttered as the other being stood up, taking his weapon again. It was an odd two sectioned stick, where both sticks copycatted the other with one loop and an opposite pointed side.

"With us, I guess that'll be better then out there. …" The being joked, laughing to himself, "… I didn't really expect to see another one… We'd thought you didn't get finished in time."

He paused, his expression falling, but recovered as he swung around with the weapon. 9 jumped and pulled back, but the weapon merely met two loose threads on his fixed arm, which fell as the weapon was snapped together. 9 smiled nervously and rubbed the new repairs, his eyes wondering to the weapon as he wondered what in the world it was.

"There you go, that'll hold nicely," He said with a smile as he walked to a prong sticking out of the wall. At this point 9 noticed a mark on his back, as had been on 2's. This one was a half-loop on the bottom with one two straight lines angled over it.

"I'm 5, by the way." He said as he hung one of the loops of the weapon on the prong, holding it still to keep it from swinging.

"I'm 9."

"You said so. Er… You talk in your sleep. You kept crying out when I was carrying you here, lucky 1 didn't hear you…" 5 explained. He stalled a bit, and changed the subject. "Sorry that repair not terribly good… I'm still learning to use the needle. My teacher, 2… He would have done a better job, but… he's been gone for a while…"

9 looked up at the mention of 2, "I was with him!"

"2?!" He asked as his eye went wide. He smiled, rushing quickly to 9. "Wh-Where?! Out there?! What was---"

"Keeping secrets from me?"

Both beings snapped to attention at the new voice, though 5 looked more then alarmed. There, parting the cloth-made door with some sort of a craned hook made with half a pronged circle, a long staff, and a silver sphere at the end, was a dusty old being with a frown set on his cold face. He somehow even looked more hastily made then 2, and wore a red cloth on his shoulders fastened by a shiny red object and a white thing on his head, where a copper rusted circle had a single line stamped across it.

He slinked into the room, glaring at 9 with pinched together pupils as 5 hastily rounded to him.

"1! I, uh… I was actually just c-coming to tell you…" 5 explained, but a push away with the staff showed the new character wanted nothing to do with him. However, he walked straight to 9, who leaned back farther until the other jabbed his back with the bend of his staff, pulling him down so he had to hunch over.

The new being looked over the mark across his back, a circle with a line curved slight as it fell from it.

"What's this?" He asked, hardly even calling 9 more then a object.

"Uh… I f-found him!" 5 said boldly as he neared the older figure. However, he glanced to ground and crept backwards, his mind knowing exactly what it had to get out.

"In, uh… In the emptiness…"

This caught the 1's attention. He let go of 9 and instead rounded on 5, whom he walked toward. He towered over the younger one, who slimply . 5 backed up in a panic.

"What were you doing out there!? You'll lead the beasts straight back to us, fool!" he spat, as 5 stumbled and fell into a table, knocking several things over. He didn't stop as 5 scrambled to pick up the fallen items, but instead put his curved staff around the being's neck and pushed him into a backwards bend on the table. 5 gawked at him, seeming at a loss for words as he stumbled out syllables. "How many **times** have I told you…!

"The beast! The beast is the thing that took 2!" 9 offered, trying to break the fight up. The older being glanced back to him as 5 looked at him with frightened eyes. "If we hurry we can---"

"No," 1 snapped, pulling away from 5 and walking toward 9 with slanted eyes, "If a beast took him, then he is gone to us."

"But he was alive!"

"No!" He snapped, pounding his staff on the ground and bending toward 9 to make him flinch back. "We have rules here!"

9 looked at him with a glare, but the sound of slow and heavy footsteps made him look to the door. A sharp weapon parted the doorway, and a large lumbering being stood there. He was gigantic and intimidating… and the weapon he held simply added to the influence. 5 slowly walked back to 9, his eyes focusing on the largest as the older one looked at them, a smirk on his face.

"Thank you for joining us, 8." He said over his shoulder, a newfound tone of confidence in his voice, "We have a guest… and he seems confused. Perhaps I can help you achieve some clarity."

The older being then turned, walking easily past 8 to the doorway. The largest swung his weapon a bit and let it land on his hand, where in clunked against metal. He looked prepared to attack, but merely made a nod toward the direction the oldest had gone, his large eyes leaving them for a moment.

5 slowly approached 8 and then hastily walked around him, his eyes to the ground in his submission. 9, however, didn't look away from him as he craned his neck to look him over. Questions of why he was so big, how he held that weapon, about anything and everything about him flashed past as he did. 8 glared at him as he walked past and 9 met his gaze until noticing two circles marked on his arm. Taking this distraction to his advantage, 8 made a deep growl and faked an attack, causing 9 to jump and pick up his step. He looked down to the ground, though could still feel the giant being's stare that lay darkly on him.

But as his gaze went away and his body walked out the door way, 9's curious eyes gazed upward, his mouth going slightly agape at the place his was. Though the new building was as shattered as the rest of them, a large circle coated with the colors 9 had seen when he was born lay on the wall before them. The ugly colors in the world decorated this beautiful broken palace? How odd.

9's eyes looked straight up, his mouth curving upward as questions echoed to him. Why was it so broken? Who had done this? Why did the others stay here? As he asked himself this, he saw a great mass over him, leaving large gashes in the building. There a rusted mass moved slowly at three points, which circled together like an endless dance.

"9…" 5 whispered, placing his hand on his shoulder. 9 looked to him, his eyes shuttering as 5 gave him a hopeful look and whispered to him. "The beast… It didn't kill him?"

9 shook his head and took in a breath for an answer, but 8 let out a snarl.

"Quiet."

The two flinched and did as they were told, but 9's ever wandering eyes looked ahead as the eldest lifted himself into a large contraption that hung low to the ground, the rope at the top attached to the high above ceiling. 5 followed him inside it and 9 did as well, but he lost his step as 8 grabbed him by the back and pushed him forward, causing him to stumble inside and land smack into 5. The being caught him by his arms and they both looked at 8, who merely snickered victoriously as he went inside the hallowed out container. 9 straightened up, studying it. The word was there, in his mind… bucket!

9 smiled in response, but as he was distracted in his own victory, 5 spoke to him. Not hearing him at first, he looked up to the other being.

"Huh?"

His response was a sudden lift in the bucket, which was pulled straight upward by 8 using a rope. 5 laughed a bit as 9 stumbled and clutched the side.

"I said hold on." 5 said quietly, and helped him back up to his feet as 8 pulled them upward with the rope. However, the one-eyed being glanced away nervously as 9 looked to 1, who leaned on his staff with a smirk. He glanced away to avoid his gaze, and instead let his eyes wander upward to the ceiling of the broken building. The lift was raised by 8's pure strength, and soon reached another floor. The bucket stopped and 1 walked out first, 5, 9, and then 8 last. 9's curiosity began to react as he looked around the large interior of the building.

Another window with the ugly colors was over a raised up section of floor with a black and white pattern where different small statues stood to match the pattern. Next to it sat a black stand that hung by a tight rope from the still high ceiling, a bit of coal and wood searing in red light, the same light 2 had held on the thing on his head. The window had some odd image of a man dressed in blinding white, his arms outstretched. Yet for some strange reason, he was looking down to the ones he held out his arms to.

Across from the meager group, on the opposite side of the room, a small hunched figure crept around in the shadows, his metal black-stained claws twitching a bit. He was muttering to himself, looking at the new face who looked about the room with wide-eyed marvel.

Sensing the figures eyes on him, 9 turned around to look at the shadows. The was a shuffle of movement, but nothing could be seen. The newborn's eyes flickered as the hand of 1 met his shoulder, grasping it.

He looked to him, noticing instantly that he did not have the same comforting touch as 2.

1 took in a deep breath, and looked up to 9, "When we awoke in this world… it was chaos… Man and machine attacked each other with iron and metal…"

As he spoke of the past, each of those in the room listened closely, 9 staying standing as 8 sat down on the ground to examine his weapon and 5 quietly stood next to the patterned floor, looking a bit distant as he straightened each of the small statues multiple times. All of those in the room remembered the past as 1 spoke of it, and 9 inferred a bit himself, and one great image seemed to form in each of their minds, having all experienced the same thing in their own differing views.

The city appeared as dusty and deprived as it did in the future, though in this time the city was full of noise. Tall figures were poised over each building and attacked any sign of the human flesh. The man fought back with guns, bombs, fire, fists, anything available. Yet few remained who still rejected this horrid war, the most noted of which rushed swiftly across the battle field, a white coat flapping at his ankles and a shoulder bag thumping against his side. He breathed with difficulty, eyes focused on the great machines that hunted him. They were too blind to see him just yet, as he still remained in the section of the city where the humans still stood their ground. However, the machines were the least of his worries…

A great series of shots rang out as he limped across the battle strech. He let out a yell and stumbled, though was able to grab the bag and clutch it to his chest for protection as he landed face first in a pile of debris.

He coughed and wheezed loudly, his ankle now stinging from the twist it had encountered when he fell. His eyes blinked open and he reached for his specticals, which lay a few inches off to the side, but a white blur stopped him short. He stumbled for his glasses and put them onto his life sucked face, blinking in surprise at the white-bleached being that stood before him, looking as alarmed as he was.

"7! Thank the stars I found you..." He gasped and took his bag, folding away the burlap cover and reaching inside. "Listen to me, my girl… Take your brothers and go swiftly… you must hide until the machines have quieted…"

He lifted three beings out of his bag and placed them on ground before the bleached female. Two of the new beings looked around with frightened eyes but rushed to 7 and desperately clutched to her. The older of them looked back to the man with a worried expression.

"But---"

A loud explosion caused the man to throw his body over them, and the debris covered him. He sat back up, his lip shaking as he spoke.

"You must listen to me! Find shelter and wait there… It is no longer safe to be with me.…" He said, and stalled a bit, trying to hold himself back. "6 knows what you must do, try to find him. Do you understand, 7? 5?"

The two nodded and 5 took a step forward to the man, looking up to him because of obvious height differences.

"Um… I'm s---"

Another ring of an explosion stopped him short. The man covered them again, but in his bent over position he craned his neck up, loud voices shouting out on the horizon. He jumped quickly up to his feet, glancing back.

"It's them… Go, all of you! Hurry!"

"But…!" 5 yelled as the man suddenly took off, "W-Wait! Wait!"

"5!" 7 ordered. He turned around as 7 took the twins by their hands and gave one to 5, who grabbed his arm in her fear. "Carry 4 on your back, I'll take 3. I know where the others are…"

5 nodded and lifted the female twin up onto his waist, where she hugged tightly with her legs and pressed her face into his neck. The being then looked up to 7, who had repeated 5's action. She nodded to him and took off, and the slower being stumbled a bit as he followed her across the ripped up landscape. 4 clutched around him, letting out low flickering noises. 5 smiled softly over his shoulder as he ran.

"Hey, don't worry…" 5 said over the loud noises on the horizon. "You're going to see the others… 2 and 6! You want to see them, don't you?"

4 looked up to him, a small smile forming on her face. The male being smiled, suddenly dropped a bit, and rushed forward. A smile erupted onto 4's face and she made rapid flickering sounds as he dramatically jumped to make her bounce and ran after 7, who carried herself too proudly to prance about as 5 did.

However the bleached being stopped short and swung around a corner as a crowd of the humans stomped by. 5 jumped down from a slab of debris and stood beside her, breathing hard. 7 slowly let 3 slip to the ground, and 5 repeated her action. She took off running, and the male leaned around the corner to watch her.

4 walked quickly to 3, who hunched over and nervously rubbed his arms. The female twin smiled, meaning to spread the cheer 5 had gifted her, and pulled 3's shoulder a bit. He looked up and she made a few flickering sounds. He responded the same way, though looked slowly back to the ground. 4 frowned deeply and darted around to face him directly. She leaned down and put her hands behind her back, slowly straightening up so that he had to lean up until he stumbled backwards. She straightened up too and caught him in her embrace around the waist. She picked him up a bit and spun around, lifted up his feet as he spun. He scrambled to escape, but made quick flickering sounds and beamed.

5 glanced back to the twins and then to 7, but his head took a second snap to the twins. He quickly walked to them and waved his hands, causing them slow down and dart away from each other, smiling and flickering slightly. 5 chuckled and rubbed the top of their covered heads, and then turned back to look around the corner.

7 glanced back to give them the signal, and 5 quickly grabbed one of 3's hands, who grabbed 4's hand as well. The trio rushed after 7, who lead them around another corner. She stalled, glancing back as the humans leapt over them again, and then took off herself.

She ran to a lone helmet left behind by some poor human, glancing a bit over her shoulder, but went on ahead as the helmet lifted itself a bit off the ground. 8 stood high over 1 and 2, who held up the helmet with his proud strength alone. 1 walked out from under it to meet 7 halfway.

"I found the others," 7 exaplined, looking back to the others. They walked quickly out from the corner and went underneath the helmet. 3 and 4 quickly hugged 2 as soon as they got near him, and the elder sent a smile and a pat on the shoulder to 5, who put on an exausted smile at the sight of the man.

"No sign of 6 though…" 7 said softly, looking around them.

"He's gone then," 1 muttered.

7 shook her head, a glare in her eyes, "I'm not going to stop looking, 1."

He gave her a disapproving look, but a sudden crash of metal made them all slink back and cover themselves. 7 looked ahead, and prepared to run again.

"There's a path ahead… follow me." 7 ordered. 1 reached for her, but the female was already gone. He scoffed, and ducked back under the helmet. 8 lowered it to cover them, and they all took hold of the side, using each of their strengths to move the helmet forward, like some strange and giant round bug.

The meager group rushed forward in the explosions of battle, having now being caught in the midst of the eternal dual of metal and flesh beasts. The small figures darted past the rubble, led by the bleached female. It was quite an odd sight to see, if one of the humans actually stopped that horrendous battle long enough to notice 7 dart by their ankles, followed by the helmet pill bug.

The battle was earsplitting to the small beings, and the earth shaking footsteps of the machines ranged closer until causing a large quake split the earth, causing one of the beings to lose his footing and trip over a scrap of wood.

5 gasped in pain as he landed face-first on the ground, his external body not taking it too well. He groaned as he stood up, rubbing his head a bit. As the being straightened up and attempted to recollect himself, a loud creaking and shaking caught his hearing. Slowly, he turned, squinted as the dust cleared.

Before him was a great metal beast with two long legs and a seedpod body, which held a bright red eye. It took one step closer to him, not yet noticing him from several hundred feet up. He gasped and began to lift himself up to take off running, but a flesh being rushed by to take on the beast himself. It groaned as it threw a smoking stone and ran over the plank of wood 5 sat on, causing it to shake and him to tumble onto his knees. The stone exploded into fire as it hit the beast and it groaned in its expressionless fury. Focusing on the human, it fired a chain of explosions at the human, hitting it squarely and knocking it over and onto the ground. 5 flinched and cried out in fear as the human fell coldly onto the ground, its useless hand landing next to him.

5 leapt to his feet and took off running after the others, now in fear of both the slaughtered human and the deadly metal that slinked over it, followed by two partners to its work. 5 breathed with difficulty, and was taken by surprise as the metal beast fired large rocks at him, the first and second causing debris to crash into him, and the last to curl up the ground from beneath him. He flew downward and hit his face to the ground, barely giving him time to let out a shout of pain, a shout for help, and a shout for fear.

5 hissed lowly, his head pulsing sparks. His images were flickering, and this began to influence his mind as well. He whimpered lowly, hearing the ever so slow footsteps near closer to his body, which refused to move.

Despite this, his body was lifted up to a kneeling position. He looked up past the sparks and blurred images to see 2, who wore a concerned expression as he looked him over.

"2…" he said softly, but the older being shook his head.

"Don't. Come on, I'll take you to the others…" 2 said, looking up at the lumbering machine that was now only a few steps from them… The older being carefully picked 5 up to his feet and began to led him away, hardly going fast enough but trying all the same. He limped along, eyes wide as he felt that machine's present getting closer and closer…

The leg of the machine pressed firmly into the ground they walked desperately on to escape, yet were pushed out of the way at the last moment before both beings were crushed.

2 still hung onto 5, who curled up a bit as they both hit the ground. The older coughed loudly, his interior filled with dust, and looked up to the being who had pushed him away and now pinned him down with her weight.

"7!" He said, but looked to 5. "Quickly, he needs help… his eye…"

7 looked to him and nodded, and helped 5 to a sitting position. She and 2 lifted him up onto their shoulders and walked swiftly back to where the others waited, 5 now shut down in their arms. They limped quickly over the battlefield, 7's stamina giving their speed a good kick.

"What happened? I was leading when the others stopped. 1 said you threw a fit and ran…" 7 asked as the picked up their steps.

"We were running and I saw 5 was gone… I attempted to stop the others, but 1 said he was dead if he wasn't there and tried to leave him behind… I tried to get out and the twins held me back… They seemed terribly scared for me…" 2 explained, "But 1 told them if I wanted to go after their dead brother, then I was dead too. That terrified them, and they just tried to protect me… Their commotion knocked 8 off balance and he tipped the helmet… I spotted 5 after that and left them… My, I feel so bad now…"

7 looked appalled at 2's story, and prepared to defend him, but they approached the others through the dust. 7 quieted down as 1 met them, though gave nothing to him but a glare. 2 looked nervously to the ground as the twins peeked around 8's large body, both looking worried at the two as the largest held up the hiding place. 7 and 2 led 5's lmp body inside the hiding place. 1 followed them as well and 8 slowly lowered the helmet over them.

The small group then continued on through the battlefields, not knowing where they were heading or what would happen when they got there.

**CARACK-CRACK!**

9 was quite sharply taken out of his daze by 1 snapping his staff against the ground twice, giving him a glare from across the room. 5 and 8 looked up in surprise as well, 5 accidently knocking into a statue, causing it to crash to the ground and his body went with it. He yelped and made a grab to straighten it back up, looking a bit guilty as 1 stared him down several levels lower.

1 cleared his throat, his slightly-opened eyes turning to 9.

"As I was saying," 1 said, moving slowly to the stand on which the flaring lights stirred, tempted to go out on themselves. "We were born inside a prison cell, kept locked up with one of the humans. He spoke in insanity, and often studied dark magic that did nothing but predict his faith."

In the corner of the room, 5 gripped the head of the statue he had straightened enough to leave mark from his claws. 9 glanced around as he heard sudden ripping sound and liquid splash, but nothing else.

"After so long though, we were released from the cell and we ran in the midst of the battle... I led us here, to sanctuary." 1 continued as he took a stick that lay next to the fire. He pressed it to the ground and pulled, causing it to light up with the... fire! 9 reached out to touch the flame on the end of the stick, but 1 pulled it away without looking at him. "The machines spread gas that killed everything... humans, land, animals..."

He walked slowly to the wall, "And the only thing that remains now... is the beasts."

1 held up the stick and fire to the wall, causing 9 to stumble back a bit. There, splattered across a piece of black stained parchment was scratched-up image of the creature. The creature that had attacked him, the creature that had taken his object and his first friend...

1 turned and looked to 9 as the newborn frowned, his eyes focused on the picture.

"And now we wait... for it too to disappear." the oldest said, and the fire flickered out, burning into a black bulb with light mist seeping out.

"But..." 9 looked up, "Where did it come from? Why is it hunting us?"

"Questions like that will put you life in jeopardy." 1 snapped, spinning around to walk next to the picture, where a ripped off square of paper hung loosely, several marks across the symbols on it. 1 used the burnt bulb to scratch off a symbol, the same number that 9 remembered 2 having on his back.

1 stalled, frowning, "Too many have already been lost..."

9 looked at the list in surprise. After 2's symbol, two more were scratched off and one below, on the bottom row.

"Who were the others?"

"3, 4, and 7." 1 said, not looking at him. "3 and 4 dissappeared eions ago, probably devored because of their sizes. And 7... what a fool... And now, 2 is dead as well."

"But we can still save him! He doesn't have to be like the others!" 9 said, causing 1 to arch an eyebrow at him and scoff. 9 frowned, snapping forward. "Why arn't you LISTENING to me!?"

"2 chose his own path!" 1 roared. He glared at 9, and spoke in a low hiss, "I _suggest _you don't make the same mistake."

9's eyes narrowed as he stood his ground, not backing down to the older being. 1 did the same, and then glanced to the side.

"5." He said, and the one-eyed being stumbled quickly over to stand beside 9. "If it'll make our guest happy, go up to the watch tower and scout for 2. Take him with you as well, I'd rather not have his questions baring any more holes into my head."

8 laughed lightly in the corner as 1 turned, walking to a large pile of cushions that sat atop a stone stand. 5 gave 9 a tug on the arm to get him going. Though 9 had a strong urge to fight back, he let out a deep sigh and turned, letting 5 lead him away. 1 sat down on the stand… Chair! He wore a smug look on his face, despite his perpetual frown.

5 led the still steaming 9 away, a light humming filled the corner out a bit, incredible out of tune. No one acknowledged it though, nor did they acknowledge the source of the sound.

The figure spread dark fingers across the parchment, though the shiny sticky metal dripped onto him as he did, staining him and the portions of the paper not intended to be drawn on. His widened mismatched eyes scanned the paper as he drew, and his mouth suddenly moved, making unidentifiable sounds.

He held up the paper, proudly looking at his work. A large circle was smeared onto it, divided into three sections. Each section had a different symbol finely drawn on it.

He muttered to himself and sat up, taking a pin that pierced his cloth skin and stabbing the paper and the wall behind it. This wall held a hundred… thousand… million… other papers, all etched wil the same design, all splattered with ink.

The being curled his knees up to his chest and looked up at the drawings, a crooked smile on his face.

5 led 9 back to the bucket, watching silently as the still quiet newborn fumed to himself. He followed him inside and moved to the rope, which he slowly began to pull so that they lifted up toward the ceiling. It was obvious 8's pulling moved them much faster.

"You know... 2 built this pulley system from scratch, " 5 pointed out after some time, his voice a bit dazed. 9 looked up at the being, but his sight was not returned. So instead he looked upward as the ceiling neared closer, his eyes wide.

"Really?"

"Mm," 5 said quietly, not stopping.

"How'd he build it? I mean, it's really high up! Didn't he need help? And how high does it---"

"Dunno," 5 muttered, not looking up. 9 looked back to him, frowning a bit. He seemed extremely more silent as compared to when 9 first woke up. 9 frowned sadly, taking a step toward him, but 5 stopped the rope as soon as he had. The one-eyed being turned and walked out of the bucket into the open space, where 9 saw again his beautiful world, now lit by glossy caramel brown shades. The newborn looked about the space with curiosity, now seeing parchments stuck to the walls, many sketches drawn into them. The space was covered with wood stuck together, which simply added to the area of the space and created more room.

5 walked silently to some odd contraption that balanced on the edge of a bare space, one end facing them and the other off into the sky. The one-eyed being looked through a tube on it, adjusting it a bit before turning it slowly. 9 watched him in silence until he broke down, sighing deeply as he pulled away, putting a loving palm on the thing.

"This is the first thing we built together… 2 used to call it telescope…." 5 murmured, drifting off at the mention of his teacher. "It uh… you look through here and you can see far off! That's how I found you, I saw y-you from up here and…"

"We could still go after him."

"What?!" 5 said, turning sharply around. He looked a bit downtrodden, and quickly shook his head, "B-but… he could be anywhere out there!"

"Let me see, I remember something…" 9 said, walking toward 5. He stalled a bit, but nodded and reached for the newborn's hand. He carefully helped him up, and 9 moved to look through the glass.

"Right. You look through there, and if you turn this…" 5 touched something, and 9's vision flinched sharply inward, making the ground more near. "… it gets closer!"

9 nodded, slowly tilting the scope upward. The end of it showed him the slow descent of the edge of this world, though surprisingly it looked rather far off. 9's eyes flickered as he turned it slowly, until he spotted exactly what he was looking for.

"Ah ha! That was it!" 9 said, stepping away from the telescope. 5 held it still, but quickly swooped into it, hoping somehow he could catch glimpse of 2 wherever 9 had directed him to. But to his surprise the other side of the glass showed a large group of black towers, the three most prominent looking torn-down and beat up.

"That was it, the three black shapes, you see it?" 9 said, excited, "The beast took him there, I remember! If we---"

"Oh no, no, no, no!" 5 said, stumbling away from the telescope as if it were alive, preparing to pounce and snap his neck. "We c-can't, not there! That's forbidden! It's uh… It's where the beasts are born!"

"But 2 is…!"

"We have RULES!" 5 snapped, though his face hardly looked intimidating. He turned back around, shoulders tense, and turned his telescope so that he could avoid the conversation. However, 9's expression showed he wasn't done just yet.

"5… Why do you _listen_ to him?" the newborn asked, his eyes not leaving him.

5 didn't look up, his shoulders pulled into his body, "A… A group must have a leader… he's the oldest, so he deserves it… and didn't you see him?! He's so intimidating… And I'm no good at talking to people anyway… 8 always listened to him, so if you talk back to 1, you either answer to him or 8, which is even worse…"

"But 5," 9 said, interrupting the being's words. "What if 1 is wrong?"

5 stalled, his mind remembering those exact words in the past. They were stuck to his mind now, the copycat of those same words said by _her_…

"Y-You say that… but the last one of us to say that…" 5 stuttered, but shook his head. 9 frowned deeply, taking a step toward the drifted off being.

"But… wouldn't 2 go back for you too?"

"Don't…! Don't use that card on me, making me feel guilty!" 5 said sharply, looking up to 9. The newborn looked at him sadly, reaching out for his shoulder, which he patted gently.

"Alright. I'm going to find him… Thanks for helping me out, 5." 9 said, his voice gentle as he walked back to the lift. He patted the stitches on his arm and glanced back, an honest smile on his face. After 5 didn't return his gaze though, he turned around.

5, though, was gently touching the patch over his left eye. After a moment, 9 frowned and turned around, walking the remainder of the way to the lift. The newborn tested the ropes, preparing his descent.

"Wait, wait! I forgot!"

9 looked back over his shoulder as the one-eyed being ran swiftly by, taking a parchment off the wall and turning back to 9.

"You uh.... you'll need a map." 5 advised, not looking up.

9 looked down to it, taking the paper in his metal tinted claws to look it over. It bore lines, scrawls, and symbols, yet 9 could hardly understand it a bit.

"Uh… 5, I can't really…" 9 said slowly, looking up to the other being. 5 looked up to him quickly, but glanced away.

"If I can remember it right…" 5 muttered, rubbing his neck, "One of 1's rules was that we can't go out into the emptiness unless he says so, and he only says so if it's your turn to survey… Technically though… there's another rule that says if the one on duty can't perform their surveillance, the next to survey has to got out instead…"

5 looked up, giving 9 an earnest smile, "And I'm the third oldest, forth now…"

9 paused, but followed his expression. He moved aside on the lift, and 5 jumped joyfully inside, a wicked smile on his face. He began to pull the lift so that the bucket began to drop downward.

"What got into you?" 9 asked.

"Well…" The one-eyed stalled. "I guess it was the guilt trip. I mean, I know perfectly well that those that don't listen to 1 usually get killed… but if you say 2 is alive… well, I want to save him. He is my teacher…"

He smiled softly, looking up toward 9, "That's why I said don't use the guilt trip on me , it'll always work."

The two laughed at the joke, but 5 took 9's shoulder and squeezed it, signaling him to be silent. The newborn looked up in surprise, and 5 rose a clawed finger to his mouth.

"We have to be quiet... If 1 or 8 catch us, we're done for..." 5 muttered, and continued to pull the bucket down via the rope. 9 looked out into the large room as it opened out before them, surveying for the leader or his guardian. However, the room was silent and still, minus a few shuffling and mutterings.

"I don't see them..." 9 said, turning to 5, "But I can hear someone in here...."

"1 must have sent 8 out to guard, and then gone to his room..." 5 said, looking about with his single eye. "And that's just 6, don't worry. 1 thinks he's just insane, and his room is connected over there, so he usually stays in here..."

"6?" 9 asked, looking to 5. However, a flurry of steps and a muttering caused him to look at the ledge, which they had passed by now. There, the newborn saw a shape like them, crouched over a bit. Droplets of black tinted liquid fell rapidly down to them, and some of the drops splattered on the side of the bucket.

"Hey, 6." 5 said with a smile, looking up to the shadowed figure. It picked up its hand and waved it slightly, a sticky fluid stringing to each finger as they were spread. 5 stopped the decent and leaned on the edge of the bucket.

"This is 9, 2 found him earlier," 5 said, and 9 noted the sudden raise of confidence in his voice. "But 2 is missing... so we're going to look for him."

"...Missing...?" A curious child-like voice came, followed by the figure bending down closer. "…Want to help… to come…"

5 shook his head, "No, if all three of us are missing then 1 will go crazy. He'll lock you in your room again, and probably lock me in the tower…"

The figure adjusted; he now sat down on the edge with his legs far apart and his hands between both legs, his weight on them as he bent forward.

"Oh…. Okey dokie. Shall stay here and not tell 1?"

"Right! Thanks, 6, we'll see you in a bit." 5 said, and began to pull the rope again, continuing their decent. However, 9 still looked toward that being, wondering to himself why 1 would think he was insane. A bit creepy, mind you, but anyone would be at that position. And what was that black liquid? He watched 6 as they fell slowly, and the being got up to his feet.

"Bye-bye, 5. Nice to meet, 9." He said, and turned. The figure limped away, humming a bit as he did.

5 frowned, silently pondering to himself as they scaled the length of the two floors. 9 looked to him, eyes shuttering. After a moment, 5 felt his gaze and glanced nervously upward, taking in and out a deep breath.

"1 keeps him locked in here… It's horrible, really, because I think it makes things worse." 5 explained. "He didn't always act like that either, never coming out of the shadows and the short words… No, but he was never as nice. In fact, he usually secluded himself and never spoke to anyone."

"What happened to him?" 9 asked, looking upward again.

"Well... The truth is, during our time being stuck with that Man... Which wasn't _as_ bad as 1 said... The Man helped us to leave his house, but I never went outside... But 6 went out all by himself once, and then went missing for days." 5 explained. "No one knew where he had gone to, so 7 and 8 went out to find him. They came back every night, but never could find him." 5 said sadly.

"After a while, 1 got out by himself, so 2 went after him. I don't know what happened after that, but one day the Man was frightened and took 3, 4, and I out of the house. He found 7 and we went with her, where we found 1, 2, and 8. But still no sign of 6... During the run though, I got hurt and my eye was... Well, 2 saved me and we continued to walk, soon finding this church...."

The words of 5 began to paint themselves inside of the newborn's mind, where he saw images of the small group trouping the landscape. They walked beneath their pill-bug helmet, 8 holding most of the weight as 7 and 2 held onto the unconscious 5, his eye snapped apart and fizzling to itself.

7 had noticed the slow in their step to match the others, as well as the calm in the battle's air. She looked to 2, who slugged as he held 5.

"2, are you doing alright?" she asked, and the older being looked slowly up to her, his eyes slunk. It was at this moment he stumbled and fell, dragging the limp 5 and standing 7 with him.

"2! 8, stop!" 7 ordered, bending down beside the two. She moved 5 onto his back and then went to 2, who she helped get to a sitting position. He smiled slowly, looking to her.

"I'm fine, girl, just need a breather..." He gasped. He was suddenly captured on both sides by 3 and 4, who tugged his arms on either side. He looked to them, smiling. "Not you two as well... I'm just peachy, trust me!"

7 looked up to 8 and 1, who stood over them and waited. However, the female's eyes looked up past them.

"Look, over there!" she said, pointing past them. The two gave her questioning looks but turned around. Before them was a large building that had remained untouched by the battle of metal and flesh, despite a poor flying machine the humans used that crashed straight through. The large building was prominent on the ground before them, the shape of it like some great beast. However, a large frame of glass was circled around it, a giant clock that had its hands stuck to an eternal time, having being abused and neglected.

"We can stay there until we can get 5 fixed," 7 said, and took 5's arm to raise him up onto her shoulders. She stood up with 5 on her back, his head lolling to the side, and began to walk forward. "8, take care of 2---"

"You are NOT the leader, 7." 1 snapped, stepping in front of the female. She stopped short, her eyes glaring to a slant.

"Just because you're the oldest _doesn't _mean you can put our lives in danger." 7 snapped, shouldering around him but turned to face him. "I'm going to put 5 inside. Follow me if you don't want him or yourself dead."

With that the female turned and stepped briskly away. The others looked after her, but 3 and 4 were the first to react. The two flickered quietly to each other and then lifted 2 up on either side of his body.

"I'm fine, really…" 2 said as he walked with them as his supports, and they followed after 7. 8 and 1 remained, and the largest gave the oldest an inquiring look.

After a moment of glaring, 1 growled. He stomped after the other beings, obviously seeing no other solution, and was followed being by the lumbering being.

The meager group of beings entered the large building, their small eyes flicking cautiously as they walked through the broken and darkened structure. The battle was muffled from outside, but it certainly didn't give them seclusion from the beasts and the humans. They still had the ground here, as they did everywhere. They could be lurking anywhere here, either in the shadows around them, above them, or perhaps even behind them. They were easy pray to anything now, and it made 7's head tick. She and 8 were the only ones who could protect themselves and the others, and their only back-up was currently unconscious and zapping her cheek with his eye. She took in a deep breath, letting her eyes scan the room. He knew something was in here, she could feel it's sight and hear it's touch. They were being hunted.

And she was correct.

"Stop here. This is far enough." 7 murmured, stopping short. She carefully set 5 down on the ground, propping his back up on a nearby chunk of wood. 3 and 4 led 2 over to them and set him down. The older knelt next to the limp form of 5 and carefully straightened his head up.

"Do you need light?" 7 asked 2. The being shook his head.

"It's better to do this now, else the lad may suffer more damage." 2 said. "But… I don't even know if I can fix it… But don't worry; I'll be able to save it one way or another."

7 patted the older being's shoulder, and looked to the twins.

"You two," 7 said, and the two looked up at her, their eyes flickering, "Come with me. We're going to have a look around. 8, stay here and keep watch."

8 looked up from a large chunk of metal he had been examining and nodded to 7. 1 was distracted, and now looking around the darkened section of the building, his slanted eyes tense as he stayed nearby.

7 led the way as the two followed, 4 soon latching hold of 3's hand in her nervous state. The female stumbled along the confines of the building, her sight making things difficult to see. As she went along, 3 and 4 began to look around the new place. As they looked about and slowly began to fall behind, they came across a crack in the ceiling above them. The two dawdled and looked up through it curiously, their eyes flickering.

Above them a ray of light shone down from a second stage of the wooden mass, a clump of cloth hanging down from the next floor. 4 dragged 3 over to examine it and the twins flickered as they thought hard about it. They tugged on it, shook it, and pulled it… anything that came to mind as they questioned what it was.

Two figures loomed in on them, but from different angles. One slunk cautiously toward the sounds the made, and the other rushed at them, a bit flustered. The later swooped in on them and made a loud yell that terrified them so that they ducked behind the piece of fabric.

"3, 4!" Was the yell they heard. 7 rushed to them, slowing down as she realized her sudden approach had frightened them.

"Sorry, sorry!" She said quickly, "You've got be careful… it's dark in here and you have to stay close! Or else something might kill you!"

This seemed to help more then one could imagine, as the twins swung around the cloth and hugged her tight around the waist. She flinched a bit, pulling back at the physical contact. As 3 and 4 pulled away, one of them took her arm and the other pushed her forward. The led her to the hanging cloth, which she looked up at with confused eyes.

"So…?"

3 then went to 4, and clamored up onto her shoulders. She lifted the male up, and 3 grabbed hold of the fabric. They both looked to 7.

She looked at the cloth, her eyes flickering.

"You want to go up there? Using that?" 7 asked, and the twins beamed in response as 4 set 3 down. "Why?"

3 and 4 looked at each other, and then back at 7. They shrugged in sync.

The female being laughed lightly, rubbing her forehead with her long rusted claws, "Well… Alright. But I'm going up first."

The two smiled widely and nodded. The female being laughed as she walked past them, and took hold of the fabric. She pulled herself up most of the way, but 3 and 4 ducked under her, using both of their hands on each of her feet to get her a good push the rest of the way. She pulled herself up onto the second floor and knelt there, looking around herself. She was alone, yet the air gave her prickles down the spine. She moved slowly to look around, yet looked back down the hole to the twins.

"Alright, now one of you lift the other and th---"

"Little sister!"

7 swung around at the voice, but was suddenly attacked from behind by a large mass. She let out a loud yell of fear and fell over, crashing into the ground. The twins flickered frantically.

"RUN!" 7 ordered, and turned over onto her back, her legs still being latched onto. She pulled back and forced her legs onto what grabbed her, kicking it swiftly across the skull. It wailed in pain and let her go, allowing her to leap the feet. She turned, preparing to jump off the side of the hole, but a small hand grasped her ankle.

She turned, preparing to stomp atop it, but a crumpled and oddly formed version of her own self lay there, his eyes begging up at her.

"Don't leave…" His voice said. His eyes were wide and mismatched, and his head looked oddly distorted. "… It's me… only me…"

"6?!" 7 yelped, bending down to his form. She took his thin body and picked him up. He looked horrible, what with stains covering his body and his head purely ripped open. He smiled at her crookedly.

"Hi, 7. Sorry."

"How did you…" She asked, reaching up to his head. However, she pulled away and stood up, picking him up with him.

"Never mind, come with me! We need to hurry!"

She grabbed his arm and leapt off the side of the crack in the floor, landing gracefully on the ground but making the clumsy male fall into a heap. She picked him up and pulled him along, roaring ahead as she did.

"It's 6! 6 is alive!" 7 yelled, cupping a hand around her mouth.

"YELLING!" 6 suddenly shouted, and laughed eccentrically. 7 looked taken aback, but pulled him on ahead back into the first room, where they met the eyes of everyone, including the twins who cowered behind 8. 2 still knelt over 5, and was in the process of adjusting and slicing wires with a piece of glass.

"It's alright, don't worry." 7 breathed as 6 looked about, his smile wide. "It was 6. He's been here."

"Housekeeper." 6 added, motioning to the metal key that hung around his neck. 7 looked back, surprised.

"You're what?"

"Housekeeper." 6 repeated.

"We heard you, but what do you mean?" 2 asked.

"Keep the house."

The beings looked to each other just to clarify what they heard, and 6 pulled away from the being and went to 2, and sat down on the opposite side of 5. He reached out, taking the older being's hand in his pair of claws.

"Come, I want to show. Show! Source! The source!" 6 said, smiling.

2 looked bewildered, "6, what is the matter? Show me what? What source?"

"Don't know, the source," 6 said with a shrug. He looked down to 5 and pulled away, leaving a sticky residue in 2's hands. "Oooh… Sleeping. SHHH…"

"No, he's not sleeping… He got hurt, see his eye?" 2 said, pointing to 5's broken eye. 6 looked down and flickered his eyes. He slowly reached out, entranced by the web of cords, but 2 took his hand and placed it away.

"6, what's wrong? You've been missing for days." 2 said, "And you're not acting like youself…"

"Oooh, ooh!" 6 said, and pointed upward. The group looked up, yet all that was above was a shattered floor, reveling a tall ceiling that reached thousands of feet above their own heights. 6 got up to his feet, and began talking to everyone.

"Was up there, so HIGH!" 6 said, and began to walk like he was balancing, "Was walking… and skipping…. And jumping…"

6 jumped repeatedly, and then fell backwards, "And then I fell DOOOWWWN…!"

He laughed loudly, and stood up. He ran quickly to 2, who stared in horror at the younger being.

"And then I _cracked_ my head! Look, feel!" 6 said, bending over. 2 hesitantly placed his hands on either side of 6's head, his tender skull now easily morphed, having been turned to the same texture as sand.

"It's okay though," 6 said, plopping down. He began to draw a shape on the ground with his fingers. "Everything is nicer. Clearer. World is pretty. And this BIG house…!"

He opened his arms wide, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Gave me the key, so I'm a housekeeper! My big house! And a keeper can't leave the house, 2."

"His brain is gone… split by the fall… He's lost his mind. " 1 spat. 6 looked back to him, frowning a bit.

"Not it, only me before." 6 said, his hand still doodling without him. 2 watched his hand with interest as it left small scratches.

"At least we're all together though," 7 said, stepping forward. "6, is this place safe? Will the humans or machines come here?

"Oh no, my house is safe." 6 said. "House safe, room safe, thoughts safe, self safe, safe, safe, strafe, waif, chafe…"

"We'll stay here until the battle stops then," 1 decreed as 6 began talking to himself. The others looked to 1 as the oldest stepped forward, looking around. "We might be here for a while, but at least we will have sanctuary."

The story was ended at this note, and 9 looked to 5 as the reached the walls of the building. They had already met the floor from the bucket and walked to where 9 had woken up, and in this place 5 had hurriedly gathered an assortment of odd items. This intrigued 9 and made him silent question what they were and why 5 needed them.

But as they reached a large smashed in chunk of the wall, 5 slowed to a halt as he finished his tale. He looked at the dent, his eye showing how nerve wrecked he was.

"You coming?" 9 asked, turning to look at the older being. 5 glanced to him, rubbing his neck.

"I don't usually… GO outside…" 5 explained as his eye dancing about.

9 sighed, shaking his head. Now the older being was just being skittish. Not that he wasn't before, but they couldn't back down now, not when 2 was still out there. 9 saw an image of the being's crying face, reaching out to him. The newborn shook away the picture and reached out to 5's arm, grabbing it.

"Wha…! 9!"

"Listen to me, 5… I know you're frightened, but you need to take your mind away from 1 or 8 or the beasts… and just think of 2! Think of what'll happen to him." 9 said as he pulled 5 along.

"But, the b-beasts…!"

9 stopped short as they exited the building, though didn't let go of 6 as he swung around to face him.

"After what you told me about your eye and 2, do you really want to leave him to die so quickly?" 9 asked, his voice monotone.

"N-No! I'd never want that for 2!" 5 yelped, "He's my teacher, my mentor! He's like my father; I could never wish that upon him! Don't even _say_ something like that!"

"Then why are you stalling so much to help him? Do I really need to convince you?"

"No!" 5 yelled.

"Well… then let's go." 9 said with a smile, let his arm go, and stepped out of the way. 5 frowned, looking off into the nothingness. He looked shakily back to 9, made a small sound as he glanced away, and gently touched his patch. He stalled, and clenched his claws to a ball.

"You're right… I'm just being stupid."

9 shook his head, "But your not. 1 is just keeping you on a leash. That's why you don't want to leave, because you think---"

"8'll kill me…" He finished. 5 looked up, and then let his eyes drop, "…You sound just like 7…"

He stalled longer, took in a deep breath and then released it. He shook his head, and then looked up to 9 with a smile.

"Well don't just stand there… 2's not saving himself!"

The two beings then continued to walk, 9 leading them back to the place where he remembered first and last seeing 2. 5 spoke of other things, such as the experiments and inventions he and 2 had worked on together, such as a machine that sounded as though it could create rhythemetic sounds out of nothing but the air itself, a metal box, and a few loose strings. 9 was extremely intrigued, and often asked off the wall questions, which 5 happily obliged to answering as much as possible. The two were soon laughing and talking like friends, as 9 found someone who would give him a forthright answer and 5 had found someone who would speak to him and actually_ listen_.

Yet their intriguing conversation that slowly grew louder in volume was slowed to nothing as they reached their destination, and 5's eyes fell to the ground. He let out a broken sound and bent down, picking up a cracked frame and shard of clear glass. He looked to 9 with an eye of horror.

"It's… 2's glass. It's how he sees after…" 5 looked down to it, gripping it tightly. "A-after he tried to fix my eye apparently it was so dark… He wasn't able to see very well after that… It was my---"

"Don't."9 said, taking the glass and dropping it to the ground. "It was an accident, okay? Just an accident."

"R-right, An accident." 5 repeated, shaking his head. He paused and reached to his back's carrying bundle of sharp objects. Reaching inside the hallowed-out cylinder, he took out the map parchment and unrolled it, looking it over.

"Let's see… Should be a bit north, northeast…" 5 muttered, turning slowly on his heel. He looked up to the sky, his eye scanning it as his finger followed its view.

As he thought to himself, 9's eyes began to wander with his thoughts. The newborn looked to the ground, where he found the other remnants of 2's treasures, including his once tightly held weapon. 9's eyes flickered and he bent down, taking the large staff left behind after the fight of metal and cloth. He stood up, holding the stick with the pointed end in both hands as 2 looked up, walking backwards in a circle.

"…Alright, got it. Let's go this way." 5 concluded, and began to walk forward. 9 nodded and followed behind him, using the weapon as a guide for his steps. 2 glanced back to him as the newborn caught up, and let his eyes fall slowly about that weapon. He swallowed his breath and looked ahead, back to the map.

"8 helped made that. He's really good at making weapons… b-but apparently it was too big the first time. 8 usually thinks bigger weapons are better." 5 said, laughing a bit. 9 smiled.

"Well, then I can return it to him. He won't mind me borrowing it."

"Oh, no," 5 said, looking up, "2 is the most giving of all of us. He'll probably just let you have it. He doesn't like weapons anyway, that's one of the ways we're alike…"

"What about that then?" 9 asked, pointing to the oddly shaped contraption he had strapped to his waist. 5 looked down to it and smiled, his hands moving to his waist tie. He fumbled a bit with it, and then lifted up the contraption, showing it to 9.

"It's a crossbow. 3 and 4 found the plans for one, and 2 thought it would make a good weapon for someone with one eye… But it's really alright, only having one eye, I mean. In fact, I'm a bit happier with it alone. Helps me concentrate on one thing at a time, you know?" 5 explained, and chuckled softly. He drifted off, looking at it, but moved sharply forward and showed it to 9.

"See, you take a long sharp arrow, like one of these nails or needle… The humans used to use sticks with sharp ends, that's arrows, but they're too big for us… And you pull back this thread then set up the needle… And then let it go! See, watch, I'll show you!"

He reached over his shoulder, pulling a long slender and silver rusted object from the pouch on his back, and carefully placed it into the hoister of the crossbow. He slowed to a halt and held the crossbow up to his eye. 9 stopped to watch him, and 5 pressed a lever on the side of the mechanism. The thread snapped and the needle flew, slashing sharply into the air and hitting the wall of a darkened slab of wood and ash. It sunk, quick and deep, through a loose sheet and stuck there.

"Wow, you're really good at that!" 9 said as 5 walked to the needle, pulling it out of the wall. He looked back to the newborn in surprise, and glanced away with a slight smile.

"Well, uh… Thanks! T-thanks a lot…" 5 said, but faded out as his eyes flickered slowly upward. In a stumble, he rushed up the side of the cloth-covered piece of wood, leaving a curious 9 alone. The newborn carefully picked over the lumps of broken ground and followed, and walked carefully up the slab of wood. Upon reaching the top, he found 5 carefully picking up the object 2 once set on his head.

As 5 picked up the object, his mouth still, but his fumbling hands caught the precariously set object to shake slightly. This made the round, white, object that once smothered the flame on top of the object fall off and clatter to the ground. 5 made a sharp sound and tried to catch it, but it was to no avail.

9 walked to him, and the being shook his head slightly, "...What was he doing here all alone…"

Both beings frowned deeply in their thoughts, the newborn's causing him to look down in frustration. Something was there, floating before his mind. Some odd feeling that made his fingers twitch and the ticking that filled his ears at birth was returned in a soft pulse itched at his body. That feeling filled his mind, causing him to question the causes of 2's lone traveling. Obviously, his student 5 would have been more then willing to be with him, and 2's physique would have been the last thing that should be out in this dangerous landscape. Something was not right.

His eyes looked up to 5 as the older being put the odd contraption into the holster on his back and quietly turned back to his map. 9 picked up his step to catch up to the being, looking curiously over his shoulder to the odd scrambled pictures.

5 was silent as they went up the side of the piece of wood, continuing to near the masses in the distance. However, his eye glanced twice at 9 before he looked to the newborn's scrunched cloth face.

"Uh… You want to see it?"

"I can't understand it. I mean… I can read the words and see the pictures fine but…"

"You can't translate it. Yeah, I had the same problem when I was first born. The man and 2 helped me out a lot, and one day it finally clicked. It was weird…" 5 drifted off a bit, but looked back to the map. He began to speak, circling portions of the map.

"Alright, we're about here. See, that's the Church we're staying inside of. Over there is the factory, that's those three shapes you saw where the beast took 2. Between the end of the city and the factory is the bumpy land and we can go through a shortcut, right here. It's a tunnel, where we can go underground and the factory will be closer."

9 nodded, glancing around to try to pinpoint their exact location. As they walked and 5 gave directions, they soon neared the edge of the cluttered masses and were dropped into the midst of barren land formed only by giant spirals of silver and lumps of brown fabric covered rocks. Yet as they exited the masses, 9 felt the wind sharply kick them across the side, making them speed up considerably. The newborn looked to 5 for answers, but the being had his eye focused only on the map.

They continued to walk, 9 soon having to shroud his eyes with one arm to prevent the sticky sand from clumping into his face. 5 didn't look up.

Soon, the newborn led the way, the roar of the storm hitting his sensitive hearing and sticking into each indent on his exterior. He squinted to see, hardly seeing anything but thick brown muck in the sky and only the silver masses that were mere feet in front of him. He glanced back over his shoulder to 5, whose face he now saw through the fluttering parchment. His eye was anxious and darted frantically.

9's expression dropped. Oh no.

"Where's this tunnel?" 9 asked loudly over the roar. 5 glanced to him, jumping a bit; his eyes fell to the map, then to 9, then to the map, and back again.

"I… I don't know!" 5 admitted in his yell, and at this moment the wind picked and sharply tore the map from his grasp.

"NO!" 5 screamed, rushing forward after the bait the wind gave him. He darted past the newborn and stumbled over the metal wires, leaving 9 yelling his name.

"5, wait!" 9 yelled as 5 picked up more speed then 9 thought was possible for the fumbling being without good depth-perception. The parchment caught a sliver of wood that stuck up in the kicked-up dust. 5's smile went wide as he ran to it, but his weight broke the ground around him, causing him to fall through. He let out a yell, grabbing hold of the sides, his legs dangling precariously over sharpened rocks and sticks the humans had left as a trap for each other. He kicked and pulled, desperate to free himself, until 9 approached and carefully took hold of his underarms. He lifted the older being up and set him on the unsteady ground. The two backed up carefully from the hole, but 5's eyes went to the map as the wind snatched it again, pulling it off the sliver.

5 reached uselessly after it with a small sound, as if somehow he could control the wind to make the object travel back to him, safe and sound. Yet the wind was not so gracious.

After a moment of silence, 5 quickly swung around to 9, who was pulling him up to his feet.

"We-We have to go back!"

5 made a move to take a step back the way they came, but a large round of shrewd laughter from the wind stopped them, causing them to cover themselves The storm tore at them, threatening to take them away with the map. And it would have, had they not been pinned to the ground with their own weight.

9 shook his head, "We can't."

But as his eyes traveled to meet 5's, he stopped halfway. He nudged 5 with his elbow, nodding off toward his line of sight. The other being turned and the two looked toward a opening gape between the lumps of hard fabric, forming a hallowed entrance. The older being ran quickly toward it and 9 followed, seeing no alternative.

The two beings entered the confines of the opening, 5 breathing in a sigh of relief as he leaned against the wall. The wind swam around this lump in the ground, and luckily both beings were able to see. Yet it was for naught, as the cave was full of darkness that couldn't even be pierced by either their eyes or the eyes of a human.

"At least we found the tunnel, right? Talk about lucky." 9 said, a crooked smile on his face. 5 looked to him, smiling a bit, but let his eyes travel nervously to the ground. He let out an alarmed sound as he bent down, looking at the obviously fresh set of carefully aliened pits.

"These are tracks… The beast must've made them!" 5 confirmed as he touched them and slowly looked to where the tracks led, but his face dropped. They disappeared into the tunnel.

"Oh no…" 5 said to himself, and then stood up, not taking his eye away from the dark lips of the cave. "I-It's… It's too dark… We can't see!"

9 frowned, looking about for some solution. Nearby, a large mass of thick metal and glass was crashed head-first into the side of the tunnel. Inside the occupants could not be seen in the still coffin, but a pair of large circles of glass sat on either side of the grilled mouth.

9's thoughts ticked, and he saw images. Light. Light. Light. This thing, what was it? Could it work? Shiny. Glass. Window? No… Wait! Ah ha! Car! Cars are driven by Humans, they are lifeless beasts the humans ride! They needed light to see as well, those must be the glass eyes!

"What about that?" 9 asked, pointing to it. 5 carefully peeled his eyes from the cave and looked to the car.

"A… car? But it's huge! 9, we're not human, we can't drive…"

"Not drive it!" 9 laughed, taking 5 by the arm. He dragged him over, speaking as he went. "I meant the light on the eyes! We can use that to see!"

"On the eyes…? Wait, you mean the headlights of the car? Well, it's a bit big, but…"

The older being carefully climbed up the edge of one of the lumps of ground, and from there he heaved his heavy body closer to the glass 'headlights'. He took it with both hands and sharply turned it, letting it release from its tight hold and drop gently into his hands. He turned, jumping back down to 9.

The newborn sharply stuck 2's weapon, which he still held, into the ground and let it stick there as 5 approached him. The older being handed a bulb of glass with wires inside and handed it to 9, who looked at it curiously and tapped it with two fingers as 5 worked. His smile got bigger as he rubbed it with the cloth of his arm, wiping the thick dust on it off. 5 reached into the bag on his side, taking out a mass that looked like a smashed circle.

"What's that?" 9 asked, taking a step forward as 5 flipped the sphere over.

"A battery, the humans used to use them like portable power supplies." 5 explained, reaching to the bulb 9 held. He put the battery to the bulb and snapped his fingers, carefully putting one sharp claw between the battery and bulb.

In a sharp snap, the bulb sudden sparked to life with bright yellow-white gleam. 9's eyes widened a bit at the exposer, as did his smile.

"Huh!" 9 laughed, smiling. 5 beamed, but he stumbled a bit as 9 let go and the light went out. "I've got an idea!"

He took the weapon out of the ground, and carefully unwound the wire holding the blade on it. He separated the two, putting the blade in his mouth to hold it still. Having the staff in one hand, he reached to the object that once was on 2's head from 5's pack, and set the object on top of the staff, carefully tying it on with the wire. He reached to the battery 5 held and took it, placing it inside on the copper center, where the wax candle once sit and it fit perfectly.

Getting the hint, 5 smiled and set the bulb metal-end first into the same place where 9 had set the battery. He gave it a turn, and the light zapped back to a bright gleam. 5 smiled, letting go to put his hands on the side of the lighted staff.

"2 would be impressed," 5 chuckled, but his face slowly fell. 9 frowned, taking a step forward and putting the wire-wrapped blade into 5's grasp as he took his lighted staff.

"We'll find him."

With that, the newborn turned to lead the way down the tunnel. The light lead his way, and he heard the loud clattering of 5 as the being rushed to catch up.

"You know, you're just like him," 5 said as he walked next to 9, both lead by the lighted staff. "You forget you're supposed to be scared."

9 chuckled lightly, but 5 looked at him in surprise. He was serious. 9's laugh died down, and the two looked at each for a long moment, their feet the only thing making sounds as the walked. After a long silence though, 5 seemed to lose his face and let out a light chuckling, which soon turned into a fit of laughter. 9 beamed and joined him. Obviously, the two had already formed a strong friendship.

Yet there laughter and words were eaten alive by the storm as it picked up volume, now the only brave soul to venture through it a hunched beast like some fowl-faced fiend. It crept slowly over the landscape, eyes and hand catching the parchment that tattered in the wind. It looked it over, claws leaving scars, and looked up to the tunnel where the two beings strode, on their way to save their friend.

The beast's fingers twitched on its weapon and it lashed foreword, going into the tunnel to follow the poor helpless beings.


End file.
